Yearly Archives: 2017

Two reports released today should serve as a warning signal to educators and policymakers that more needs to be done to boost student outcomes in reading, writing and numeracy and especially in the areas of citizenship and civics. Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the 2017 NAPLAN National Report confirms that student performance…

Bill Shorten and Kristina Keneally must start telling the truth about schools funding and put an end to their lies. John Alexander and the Turnbull Government have a clear plan to boost investment in schools in a fair way and ensure those extra resources are focused on activities proven to boost student outcomes. Across NSW…

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview on FIVEaa with Leon Byner Topics: TAFE SA crisis 08/12/17 09:45AM Leon Byner: Yesterday, I read out a letter from Joe Hooper from the AMA. It said that aged care nurse educators of TAFE students had observed that at least 50 per cent of students who are training – that’s training through…

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview on FIVEaa with Leon Byner Topics: TAFE SA crisis 07/12/2017 09:11AM Leon Byner: As you know, the TAFE disaster is getting more intriguing as every day progresses. Our interest really is about the students. Now, there’s a whole lot of things which we’ll unpack for you shortly. Now, you remember that the…

The Australian Senate has set up an inquiry into the Weatherill Labor Government’s TAFE SA debacle. Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham welcomed the Senate agreeing to the inquiry that the Turnbull Government had proposed. “Jay Weatherill won’t do his job and hold Susan Close to account so the Australian Senate will,”…

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Doorstop interview, Canberra Topics: SA TAFE crisis 06/12/2017 Simon Birmingham: Over the last five years, the Federal Government has provided $771 million to the South Australian Government to support vocational education and training. What we’ve seen in that time is constant policy chaos. The South Australian Government had a policy called Skills For…

E&OE TRANSCRIPT Interview on Sky News AM Agenda with Kieran Gilbert Topics: Citizenship; Foreign interference laws; Same-sex marriage 06/12/2017 08:33AM Kieran Gilbert: For more on all of that I spoke to the Education Minister Simon Birmingham, and began by putting to him the fact that Labor maintains they’ve taken all reasonable steps and that the…

Australian Year 4 students have shown marked improvement in reading literacy outcomes, according to a new international comparative study. Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) showed Australian students improved their ranking from 27th (out of 45 countries) in 2011 to 21st (out of 50 countries)…